A university vice-chancellor who downed wine, crowd-surfed and even competed in a dance-off at a boozy student awards bash has been elevated to legendary status at the University of Northampton.

And it's not hard to see why as it's rare for students to know their vice-chancellor's name let alone throw back Jagerbombs with them.

Professor Nick Petford, 53, was at the student union's Stallions Sports Awards on March 20 where comedian Lee Nelson egged him on to have a dance-off with colleague Jane Bunce.

DOWN IN ONE: Comedian Lee Nelson (far right) gets the senior staff to neck their glasses of wine [NEWSTEAM]

“@nick_petford you have the entire student body's backing. You're a credit to the University, a vice chancellor who cares about his students”

Max Ramsell

Nick and Jane threw some serious shapes during the dance competition before being snapped crowd-surfing across a sea of students on the dancefloor.

Even though the students had a right old knees-up, the Northampton branch of the The University College Union (UCU) slammed the staff for being "irresponsible" and "promoting laddish culture".

The party-poopers said: "The University of Northampton claims to embrace equality and value the diversity of its student body, yet behaviour of this type by Senior Managers undermines the hard work that the majority of staff and students at the University put in to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment."

ELEVATION: Students have backed Professor Petford after he was criticised for crowd-surfing and socialising [NEWSTEAM]

A great majority of the students thought the union were being too harsh on the vice-chancellor and praised him for simply having a good time.

Jeremy Goddin (@jgoddin1) tweeted: "All this stuff about @nick_petford is a joke. Just a guy having some fun."

Max Ramsell (@maxramsell) said: "@nick_petford you have the entire student body's backing. You're a credit to the University, a vice chancellor who cares about his students."